On February 28, 2015, the Government of Canada announced in the Canada Gazette that it would begin enhanced information sharing between Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) and the Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA“). To many representatives who have been stunned at how many people can seemingly get away with reporting different information to the two government departments this is welcome news.
Supreme Court of Canada Affirms That State Cannot Undermine Duty of Loyalty to Client
The Supreme Court of Canada (“SCC“) in Canada (Attorney General) v. Federation of Law Societies of Canada, 2015 SCC 7, has affirmed that some provisions of Canada’s anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing duties unreasonably impedes the lawyer’s duties to both keep their clients’ confidences and to act with the commitment to serving and protecting their clients’ legitimate interests. In doing so, the SCC has held that it should be recognized as a principle of fundamental justice that the state cannot impose duties on lawyers that undermine their duty of commitment to their clients’ causes. The SCC’s decision contained the following key passages: The duty of lawyers to avoid conflicting interests is at the heart of both the general legal framework defining the fiduciary duties of lawyers to their clients and of the ethical principles governing lawyers’ professional conduct. This duty aims to avoid two types of risks of harm to clients: the risk of misuse of confidential information and the risk of impairment of the lawyer’s representation of the client (see, e.g., Canadian National Railway Co. v. McKercher LLP, 2013 SCC 39, [2013] 2 S.C.R. 649, at para. 23). The Court has recognized that aspects of these fiduciary and ethical duties … Read More
Spousal Sponsorship Application Processing Times Soaring under Conservatives
On March 1, 2015, both the Ottawa Sun and the CBC reported that protesters demonstrated in front of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada (“CIC”) building on Laurier Avenue in Ottawa. As the CBC reported: Canadians who fall in love with someone of another nationality can face daunting obstacles to starting a life together in Canada. If their spouse is living here already, they face a 25-month waiting period for their application to be processed. That waiting period has grown longer over the past two years, leaving thousands of families in limbo. It is not only spouses in Canada whose applications are experiencing processing delays.
The Increasing Burden on Canadian Businesses
The following article appeared in the March 2015 edition of The Canadian Immigrant. — Canada’s government views itself as being a government that has reduced administrative burdens for Canadian businesses. Indeed, the House of Commons recently passed legislation that states that every new regulation that imposes a new administrative burden on Canadian business must result in an existing regulation being amended or repealed. Under its Red Tape Reduction Action Plan, the Canadian government has announced that it is committed to streamlining the regulatory approval processes and reducing reporting requirements and information demands. Canadian employers of foreign nationals and prospective immigrants can be forgiven for viewing these proclamations and pronouncements with skepticism. Administrative burden of the LMIA regime Since 2013, the now-called Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) has made the labour market impact assessment (LMIA) regime excessively administratively cumbersome. ESDC has increased the LMIA application fee from $0 to $275 to $1,000. It has introduced exceedingly more stringent recruitment requirements on employers wishing to obtain LMIAs to permanently retain their foreign workers and help them transition to permanent residency. For reasons that I still don’t understand, ESDC has decided to not publicize some of its recruitment requirements, a decision which … Read More
The APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) Business Travel Card (ABTC)
In June 2014, the Government of Canada announced that Canadians could now participate in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (“APEC“) Business Travel Card (“ABTC“) program. I applied for and quickly obtained one. Indeed, when I went for my interview I was told by the United States Customs and Border Patrol officer that I was one of the first people to be interviewed. From what I can tell it appears that very few Canadians have applied for the ABTC. Indeed, when I mention the very existence of the ABTC most people appear unaware that it even exists. This is unfortunate. If you’re a Canadian citizen or permanent resident and you’ve ever sat in frustration at the Chinese Consulate in Vancouver waiting for your visa that will only be valid for a few months, or stood in line gaping at the size of the crowds at the ShenZhen-Hong Kong border crossing, then the ABTC is for you.
Citizenship and Immigration Canada Abandons International Students
The following article appeared in the December 2014 edition of The Canadian Immigrant magazine. Are options for international students to immigrate permanently narrowing? Each year, around 100,000 international students arrive in Canada to commence their studies. From 2005 to 2013, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) introduced many programs to make it easier for these students to obtain work experience in Canada after graduating and to transition to permanent resident status. My May 2013 column for Canadian Immigrantdetailed the ways in which post-graduate work permit (PGWP) holders could stay in Canada beyond the expiry of their PGWPs. In that article I wrote “some graduates regretfully lose their employment (and consequently jeopardize their permanent residence applications) if the employers are unable or unwilling to pay the required prevailing wage rates required for LMOs [labour market opinions], or if Service Canada refuses the applications because of insufficient recruitment on the employer’s part. There is no reason for this to be happening.” Unfortunately for international students, that “there is no reason for this to be happening” is no longer the case, and the road for recent graduates to obtain permanent residency is becoming increasing difficult.
Environmental Overview – Colombo
The following is a summary of the Environmental Overview of the immigration functions at the Canadian High Commission in Colombo, Sri Lanka (the “Environmental Overview”). The Environmental Overview was prepared as part of the Citizenship and Immigration Canada 2014-2015 planning exercise, and is current as of January 2014. Areas in blockquote are direct passages from the Environmental Overview. If you would like to obtain a copy of the full Environmental Overview, please contact me.
Low-Wage Caps
Employers offering wages to prospective foreign workers that are below the provincial/territorial median hourly wage will subject to a maximum 10% cap on the proportion of low-wage foreign workers. The cap is being phased in over 2 years.Employers that have a low-wage foreign worker workforce will be: limited to 30% or frozen at their current level, whichever is lower; reduced to 20% beginning July 1, 2015; and further reduced to 10% on July 1, 2016. Cap Exemptions There are a few exemptions to the low-wage cap requirement, including employers that: have fewer than 10 employees nationally, including the vacant positions they are applying to staff with TFWs. are hiring TFWs for jobs that are truly temporary (e.g. emergency or warranty work positions). are hiring TFWs for low-wage positions located in Quebec. Calculating the Cap To calculate the cap, employers need to follow a complicated 2-step process that includes: Establishing the cap for the specified work location; and Determining the effect of hiring TFWs on the cap. Establishing the cap for the specified work location The first step of the cap calculation is to determine the percentage of foreign workers in low-wage positions at the work location where the TFW will be employed. The steps towards calculating this are: Select 4 consecutive weeks between May 10, 2014 and June 20, 2014. This time … Read More
Communicating by email with IRCC
The following article appeared in the November 2014 edition of The Canadian Immigrant. —— People wishing to immigrate to Canada have traditionally had to submit paper-based applications, and communicate with Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) by regular mail. CIC, however, is modernizing its processes. An increasing number of applications can now be uploaded to CIC’s online portal, and visa offices regularly communicate with applicants by email. Indeed, visa officers frequently send important emails to applicants that contain requirements for the applicants to provide specific documentation within strict deadlines. Unsurprisingly, many emails from CIC to applicants appear to go missing, and both CIC and the Federal Court have had to determine what procedures are fair when applicants miss deadlines contained in emails that they allege they never received. You get to decide how to communicate You, the applicant, has the ultimate choice of when to communicate by email with CIC. CIC will initiate email communication with you if you submit a completed application form, which includes an email address, if you provide a signed Use of Representative form that includes an email address, or if you initiate email communication with CIC. At any point, however, you may request that CIC communicate … Read More
Human Smuggling – A Very Broad Offence
A Canadian citizen helps an undocumented refugee claimant come to Canada without the proper documentation to seek asylum by paying for part of his transportation. A Canadian marries a foreign national, and helps bring her to Canada without going through the proper process. The couple are now staying with the Canadian’s mother, who is providing temporary accommodation while the couple looks for a place to rent. When asked to describe a human smuggler, most people are unlikely to think of the above two scenarios. Rather, they will generally describe organized criminal elements who are paid to transport people across borders. However, in Canada it was unclear until November 2015 if the offence of “human smuggling” encompassed the above two scenarios, when the Supreme Court of Canada issued its decision in R v. Appulonappa, 2015 SCC 59. Background to Appulonappa Appulonappa arose from the October 17 2009 arrival to Vancouver Island of the MV Ocean Lady, which carried 76 undocumented Sri Lankan Tamil asylum seekers to Canada. The Crown charged four individuals with human smuggling pursuant to s. 117 of the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act, S.C. 2001, c 27 (“IRPA”), which states: No person shall knowingly organize, induce, aid or … Read More